Montreal Canadiens place Evgenii Dadonov on injured reserve

The Montreal Canadiens have placed forward Evgenii Dadonov on injured reserve, the club announced Thursday.

Dadonov, 33, has missed the Canadiens’ last two games as would have against an unspecified virus.

The Canadiens acquired Dadonov from the Vegas Golden Knights in June, flipping Shea Weber’s LTIR contract the other way.

Dadonov is yet to score a point as he averages 13:29 in eight games with the Canadiens this season. He scored 20 goals and 43 points in 78 games for the Golden Knights in the 2021-22 campaign.

The Canadiens currently sit seventh in the NHL’s Atlantic Division with a 5-5-0 record and 10 points in 10 games this season. They currently have a minus three goal differential and a 3-2-0 record at home.

The Florida Panthers originally selected Dadonov in the third round (71st overall) of the 2007 NHL Draft. Dadonov spent six seasons with the Panthers to start his NHL career, topping 28 goals and 70 points in 82 games for the club in 2018-19.

Dadonov signed a three-year contract with the Ottawa Senators as an unrestricted free agent in 2020. He scored 13 goals in 55 games in his only season with the Senators before being traded to Vegas in 2021 .

In 421 career NHL games with Florida, Ottawa, Vegas and Montreal over nine regular seasons, Dadonov scored 124 goals and 265 points. He added one assist in four playoff games with the Panthers in 2020.

Dadonov is signed through the end of the 2022-23 regular season with a cap of $5 million. His contract features a 10-team no-trade slate, which notably came into play at the 2022 trade deadline when the Golden Knights attempted to move him to the Anaheim Ducks unaware that Dadonov had to approve the trade. OK.